It's Me...

This blog post is going to be more of a pictorial update of the past week than a word-filled one. I guess I have more time to snap pics than to compose. So, c'mon along while I fill you in on the happenings in and around Chez Goodneedle... and beyond!

Our oldest granddaughter represented North Carolina in the Southern Zone Championships in Orlando last week. 

We drove down to watch her compete; personally, she did incredibly well!  The thing that we're the most proud of is her sportsman-like character; she's such a great teammate and cheerleader for others, both in and out of the pool. 

What to do between events (back in the hotel room) and in the car to and fro? Hand finish bindings!

One of the sights from Orlando, near our parking deck. This INSANE ride (450' tower!) spins riders out and around as it ascends and descends; the number of similar attractions were mind-blowing. Thanks, but no thanks; not for me! 

Back home again: blueberries are abundant on the backyard bushes, we've enjoyed yummy, fruit-laden pancakes twice this week already. 

The Marathon Runner was quilted this week...

...under the watchful eye of my constant sewing room companion. 

Fruit Salad Quaker is fully stitched and awaiting assembly into a pinkeep. 

I tried this recipe for French Bread which is a winner; hands-down. I'll be making this again (and often)! 

Our youngest granddaughter came to spend the night before school begins again. We made this cute zipper pouch together yesterday afternoon. She loves to sew... and bake... and visit. 😊

 Dahlias are blooming like crazy right now!

This brings me back to the beginning... and the title of this post: "It's Me"~ do you remember the song: 

… It's me!
It's me oh, Lord, I'm standing in the need
I'm standin' in the need of prayer...

Right now I am asking for prayer for friends who are ill, friends who are hurting, friends who are facing health issues and uncertain futures as a result of recent diagnoses. Thank you, God knows their needs and your prayers on their behalf are deeply appreciated! 

Life is Good!

I Sewed!

Yes, I did it; I sat down at the sewing machine this weekend and actually sewed! This is the sum total of two days' work, not much in the grand scheme, but it's HUGE after these last two weeks of being sidelined! Yay!! These were already precut and labeled before my little trip onto the brick sidewalk, if they hadn't been I'm not sure I could've gotten this far. I'm unable to use the rotary cutter just yet. 

The pumpkin blocks will ultimately become the borders for this table topper, it was a kit. I committed to three kits from my LQS last year (who offered the kit of the month program); October, November and December. Stay tuned for more, but be patient. My Dad has always said, in situations such as these, "don't hang by your thumbs waiting"! That most certainly applies here.

This is the current situation here, Mr. G is in the kitchen installing backsplash currently (out of view, to the right); Augie is sitting in the Studio (pantry is in view, straight ahead). I'm ironing and he wants to be part of what we're BOTH involved in. Such a loyal little friend. 💗

So, for those of you who've been following this cracked wrist saga; you might recall that I tripped over the garden hose, that was my fateful step. Unbeknownst to me, Mr. G removed that clunky big hose that was my downfall and replaced it with a Flexi-hose. I stepped off from the side porch the other day, taking Augie out, saw this and almost had a heart attack! For all in the world, to me, it looked like a coiled black snake! I grabbed up the dog, and jumped back; it's lucky I didn't trip, fall and break the other wrist. Fear not, my BP has returned to normal.

Life is Good!

Everything Will Turn Out Fine...

I can't believe how long it's actually been since I've sat down at the machine and stitched anything! (Discounting the two microfiber towels that I dissected and hemmed for our son for his camper. That's vastly different than working on a quilt block! And, if the truth were known, that chore nearly sent me around the bend when I discovered that my 30-year-old serger was on the fritz! Grrrr.....) I'm seriously suffering from piecing withdrawal. Between the ongoing kitchen project, traveling and keeping up with life in general there has been little time. Sigh. Without a stove top or oven I'm proud to say that I've become adept at meal prep using only an electric skillet, crock pot, microwave and/or the outside grill! I was craving some homemade bread the other day, I dusted off our trusty bread machine, pulled out my favorite dough recipe and baked a couple of loaves. The recipe is below. When this recipe's author says you can skip things and it will still turn out fine she means it! In my haste I didn't properly count the cups of flour that I was measuring and, probably ten minutes into the process, looked inside at the resulting goo, grabbed the flour canister and added another cup (all the while hoping for the best!). The results are shown above. If you're craving something home baked and comforting like I was you can't go wrong with this recipe. I'll get back to sewing eventually. We'll get our sink, stove, oven and countertops installed before too long. Everything will turn out fine! And, in the meantime, I've got some pretty yummy bread to snack on! 

Bread Machine Dough Recipe *

Ingredients

Bread Machine Bread Dough Ingredients

• 1 Cup Water Warmed (110 - 115 degrees)
• 1 Tbsp Milk
• 2 Tbsp Oil
• 2 Tbsp Honey If you don't have any, you can skip this, and it will still turn out fine!
• 2 Tbsp Brown Sugar
• 1 tsp Salt
• 3 Cups All Purpose Flour You can also substitute with half whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp Instant Active Dry Yeast

Instructions

How to Make Homemade Bread in a Bread Machine

• Heat 1 cup of water to 110 degrees.  (If you don't have a thermometer, just use slightly hot tap water and it will be just fine. (really!) I never use a thermometer and never have any problems with my bread machine dough rising.)
• Put all ingredients in the order above into bread machine (you don’t need to stir it , just dump it in!)  Water, milk, oil, honey, brown sugar, salt, flour, then finally - yeast.
• Set bread machine on dough setting, and let it make the dough for you over the next couple hours.
• Once dough is made (it takes my machine about 1 1/2 hours to make just the dough), remove dough and place in loaf pan.
• Let bread machine dough rise for about 30 minutes to an hour, until it's around double the size.   When I don't have time to let it rise, I just go ahead and bake it a little sooner and it works out fine. This recipe is extremely forgiving!  Towards the end of this time, preheat oven to 350.
• Bake bread dough in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes, and enjoy!

Life is Good!

* credit for the above recipe: https://passionatepennypincher.com/

It's difficult to answer a question when the commenter is a "no reply"; so I'll do that here:

Terry: my bread machine is made by Oster. It, too, bakes a non-traditional shaped loaf if it runs through all the cycles. For this bread, though, I make the dough only in the machine and then transfer it to a regular loaf pan after the first rising. Then, I let it rise again in the loaf pan and baked it in my small convection oven for thirty five minutes. It's a GREAT! 

Carrying On...

How does that saying go: "Keep Calm and Carry On"? I believe that to be good advice and wouldn't it be even better if it involved a cookie? You know it would! I have another recipe to share from the Pioneer Woman. As I mentioned in the previous post I've been watching a LOT of cooking shows while sewing in the past few weeks. If I'm not stitching it seems that I'm either at the grocery store or in the kitchen anymore- it's hard to keep up! So, these aren't just any old cookies- they're Breakfast Cookies and they are simply WONDERFUL! 

I baked a batch, have wrapped them up individually and frozen them. You cannot believe how handy these are to have ready and available on a busy morning! Grab one (or two) to eat with your favorite morning beverage and you're good to go, they're full of good, nutritious grains, nuts and fruit. This will definitely be a staple around here from now on. My husband can be a little skeptical when it comes to trying new things. Think of that old Life cereal commercial with Mikey: "What's this stuff? Some cereal... it's supposed to be good for you... he likes it!!" 

Sew, what have I been stitching? This is block #6 in the 'Aspiring Stars' BOM. The blocks all measure 15"; I'm using a wide assortment of Lori Holt fabrics from different collections. I have absolutely no idea how I am going to set them together yet. 

 

I finally managed to get the borders on my Scrappy, Strippy Diamonds. It's currently loaded on the longarm. I found a low volume backing fabric with an allover tea bag print on the shelf, I had to do some finagling to make it work, size-wise, but I persevered; it's going to be a really a cute quilt.

More oversize blocks for the Cream and Sugar BOM. These took a LOT of time. Whew. This class is a challenge to to stay current with as far as the homework goes but I love it!

 One more thing...speaking of homework... this one will start Basic Obedience classes next week, I sure hope he's ready! 😉 Augie is 25 weeks old today; what joy he has brought into our lives! He's growing fast, just over seven pounds now. He's all about keeping calm (well maybe not), carrying on, and is definitely all about some cookies! 

What's capturing your time and attention, how are you carrying on these days?

Life is Good!

   

Sacred Stitches

When you're a part of a small, mission congregation, everyone is called upon, at one time or another, to use their own abilities for the good of God's church. It truly does take a village! Only recently has our church decided that, in addition to Sunday morning worship, we'll be adding a Wednesday evening Vespers service, to include Holy Communion. This is a great thing! However, with limited resources the demand is still high to provide everything necessary for Holy Communion; this includes altar linens, which are laundered each week. Since we only have a very limited supply, naturally this will require increased inventory of needed items. I checked the church supply catalog and found the purificators (used as illustrated:)                                        

to be a bit cost prohibitive. I have white linen, and embroidery software, and the ability to stitch. I set to work. The best tutorial that I've found for mitering with inside, turned hems finished by hand was here.

The perfect, turned-under edges were easy and accurate with the use of Clover's Hot Ruler.

I can't rave enough over this tool (or any Clover notion, for that matter!); for me, this is a much used item in my ruler drawer, one that doesn't gather dust. 

Following the tutorial linked above will have you on your way to perfect, pointy, inside miters in no time! I sat and watched some Netflix while finishing the handwork on these. This is the backside ☝

And this is what shows on the front-side (before a trip to the ironing board and a thorough steaming). In some found snatches of time this week I was able to create two new complete sets of communion linens. There's no time like the present time 😌! Hopefully, these will fill a gap for a much-needed item at church. 

♰

You may not need to create purificators, but, this is a great skill to add to your repertoire! How about a hand-crafted set of napkins, tea towels or a tablecloth to give as a gift? You'll love the results if you follow along with the steps outlined here by Celebrate Creativity, it's easier than you may think; I promise! 

I entitled this post "Sacred Stitches", I suppose because of the creation of items used for a sacrament. But, if the truth were known, I almost feel like time spent sewing and creating, for whatever purpose, is sacred time to me; if not sacred, then it is certainly blessed! If I don't get it in some stitching time of some sort, every day, I can feel as though my soul isn't quite fed; do you feel the same way? 

Life is Good!

Heading For the Border(s)

My late summer obsession has been pulling out all of those accumulated blocks-of-the-month from years past and setting them together. I got a border on this one (L) just this past week. A sweet off-white marbled fabric was special ordered (with fingers crossed) to border up and surround these six year old blocks and rein them in, success(!); it blended perfectly with the background fabric from 2015! One more to the full-flimsy stage!  The next ones out of the closet and onto the wall, a week or so ago, were these blue and white blocks; from an "I can't remember", long-ago year! I did the same blocks in red and white too, and have finished those up a few years back. I could see that I needed four more blocks here to be able to complete this into a square table topper. I'll turn my attention to that sometime soon; but, in the meantime, I had packing to get done and a retreat to attend!

And we were off, toward another border or two (or three); to a quilt retreat house in Ohio.

The accommodations were warm and welcoming. I've never slept better on a retreat.

Our individual work spaces were spacious and comfortable; the lighting was fabulous! 

We had a great, fully-equipped kitchen right off that same open space for easy meal preparation.

Check out this built in ironing space- with a window! 🙂

This was the view that I had, out the back window, from my sewing table.

And, we were treated to parachuters, compliments of the Sky Diving School behind the retreat house!

A couple of us stepped it up on the last night to complete quilt tops to bring back home. The Snowflake in flannels will bring some warm snuggle time when the snow flies. I stitched this offset coin quilt.

A parting shot before we packed it all up and headed back home again, full of inspiration and happy  memories.

Since returning home I've applied yet one more border! 

This detail shot is more representative of the colors in these low volume coins; it's sashed and bordered in a chambray blue Essex linen, actually much blue-r than gray, as these photos show. This flimsy measures 63" X 74". I have big ideas for custom quilting this one. And sew it goes...

Today's Labor Day, the official end of summer, it's time for the minds to once again return to back-to-school. The above two offerings are the newest Block-of-the Month programs at my LQS. Have I signed up? Of course I have; and not for one, but for both! Yep, it's back to the classroom for me (X 2)!

Don't let it ever be said that 

I ran out of things to work on!

Life is Good!